Zuckuss - SW [SOTDS] - Saga Legends (SL03)

Zuckuss is one of the bounty hunters that Darth Vader tasks with finding the Millennium Falcon. Although he uses the ancient rituals and keen intuition native to his people, Zuckuss nonetheless fails in his mission when Boba Fett locates the ship first.

Once bounty hunters took over the small screen in the later episodes of season 2 of The Clone Wars, Hasbro found the perfect opportunity to release some of their most popular realistically styled bounty hunter action figures into the 2010 Star Wars [Shadow Of The Dark Side] lineup. It was another great way to introduce kids to the bounty hunters that longtime collectors had known for years beforehand, as well as offer the collecting community in general another chance to get these excellently designed action figures for their collections. Surprisingly, Hasbro inadvertently made some changes to the figures in the way the paint operations were applied. We don’t believe for a second that the changes were intentional (at least not with most), but we of course have to pick apart what has made the Saga Legends versions unique to their original releases. For Zuckuss the changes are not really that noticeable unless you’re looking for them. And while changes do exist, you may not care unless you’re at a flea market somewhere and see the figure loose and you want to determine which release it is. And even in that regard you probably still wouldn’t care.

The Saga Legends Zuckuss is different in a few ways from it’s predecessor which is 2009’s LC Zuckuss (BD54) figure. On the 2009 figure, the “nose-shaped” circular respirator (for lack of better words here, folks) was painted in the same bright silver color that his large “bug” eyes were painted. But for the 2010 Saga Legends release, Hasbro has opted for a duller (and slightly darker) color. It’s very surprising that they would even make the effort to update something as trivial as this, so that is why we’re inclined to believe it’s just a variance in the paint operations and nothing intentional. And the paint operations for his eyes are tighter where the silver paint extends completely to the circumferences of the eye area. (There is no more "brown" visible long the edges.) Along those same lines, the 2010 Saga Legends version of Zuckuss has more of the dark final wash collecting in the many crevices throughout his head and body than the Legacy Collection version. The layered body bib also looks to have a muted yellow color as compared to the BD54 figure. Again, this isn’t noticeable unless you’re looking for it. Lastly, the “mud” or “dirt” collected on his soft-goods skirt is less pronounced in the Saga Legends version as compared to the 2009 Legacy Collection version where there is a clear and defined pattern of a gray sludge along the edges of the cut fabric.

These differences constitute a variation for us. Besides, the inclusion of a Galactic Battle Game card and stand should sell this figure for you, right? (We jest.) The thing to note here is that Hasbro made an excellent action figure available to the marketplace for a second time because there was a great demand for the figure that wasn’t satisfied with its Legacy Collection release. Wave 5 of the Legacy Collection was mostly based on characters from The Empire Strikes Back and anything remotely related to Episode V draws huge attention. It was wise for Hasbro to start immediately getting out figures from this insanely popular Build A Droid wave back into the hands of collectors. Bounty hunters will undoubtedly remain a hot commodity in the world of Star Wars action figure universe. It’s quite ironic that they are their own worst bounty as far as collectors are concerned. But Hasbro would be wise to continue getting them out to retail here and there and keep them fresh at retail for any given year. Obviously it makes more sense when there is a direct or indirect multimedia event supporting the theme of bounty hunters, but we’d venture a guess that a well-made action figure like Zuckuss will sell regardless of what is backing it. Hopefully you already own yours.